Proceedings
of the
Royal
Geographical Society (Great Britain)
Norton Shaw, Francis
Galton, Clements Robert Markham, William Spottiswoode,
Henry Walter Bates, John Scott Keltie
Published 1879
The Basin of the Helmand.
By C. E. MARKHAM, C.B., Secretary K.G.S.
(Read
at the Evening Meeting, February 24th, 1879.)
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Girishk is at the southern limit of
Zamindawar, on the right bank of the Helmand. The fort of
Girishk stands about a mile and a half from the river,
and the site was selected from its proximity to the fords
practicable in June and July, and to the ferry
•which is established when the river is not
fordable. The river, in its course through the mountain
valley, is believed to flow in a deep channel between
scarped rocks, and to be much obstructed by enormous
boulders. At about 40 miles above Girishk, where it has
Zamindawar on its right bank, it has a sandy and gravelly
bed and runs through a flat country with a less confined
channel. Here the water begins to be drawn off for
purposes of irrigation. At Girishk, Conolly describes the
Helmand as having banks a thousand yards apart, the right
low and sandy, but the left rocky and high. In October it
had a stream stirrup deep at the ford, with a width of
350 yards. About 50 miles of the course of the Helmand,
above Girishk, was surveyed in 1840, and the map,
preserved by the late Captain William Fraser Tytler, is
now in the Geographical Department of the India Office.
At about 45 miles below Girishk, the
Helmand is joined on the left bank, by its principal
tributary the Arghandab. It then takes a great southern
sweep through the Garmsil region, and falls into the Seistan
Lake, after a course of over 700 miles. The Garmsil
consists of a breadth of rich land about two miles wide,
extending along the banks of the river. Even in the dry
season the Helmand is never without a plentiful supply of
water, but in the winter, after the floods, it comes down
with astonishing violence and rapidity. It is prevented
from overflowing by embankments of ancient construction
at several points, which have now- fallen into decay, and
in its lower course much of the water is taken off to
irrigate the fertile tracts on either bank.
The Arghandab, the chief tributary
of the Helmand, has its sources 8500 feet above the sea,
in the roots of the Paghman and Gul-Koh mountains, in the two elevated
valleys of Jarmatu and Aludani, which are inhabited by
independent Jaguri Hazaras. The district at the
sources of the Arghandab is called Malistan on Fraser
Tytler's map. The river flows thence down a valley
between the Paghman and Gul-Koh ranges, receives the
Turnuk 30 miles below Kandahar, and
falls into the Helmand after a course of 350 miles. The
point of junction is about 2000 feet above the sea, so
that the fall is 18 feet per mile, and the velocity of
the current in winter is very great. Little is known of
the Arghandab Valley. In September 1841, it was visited
by General Lynch, who crossed the Gul-Koh Range, and came
upon the river about midway between its source and Kandahar.
Here the Arghandab is a fine river, flowing rapidly over
a ford where the water was up to the horses' girths. The
valley is populous and well cultivated, and there were
numerous forts.
Kandahar is
situated on a level plain between the Arghandab and
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